Our Food Is Fighting!

Late May Garden Update

2011-05-21T14:39:00.000-07:00

Well...for a variety of ~~reasons~~ excuses, my May garden feels like it is running pretty far behind.

There's the damn critters, of course, varmints, rodents, critters, a-holes, whatever you want to call them who dig around and ate a ton of my seeds and my first lettuce sprouts - I feel that shaking my angry fist their way is totally justified.

I'd like to blame Millie a bit, too, as she can be a menace and keeps laying in beds where she shouldn't be laying (strawberry dog, anyone?). But I can't. She's a good girl - and so damn cute.

MILLIE!

So that leaves me, myself, and I to blame, per usual. Oh well. It'll all work out.

This season, as a result of the critters AND the fact that hopefully (wishing praying hoping) we'll be moving by summer's end, I wanted to get a lot of the garden in more portable shape in case we move mid-season. Weird? Perhaps. I cut down my existing 4x4 garden boxes to 2x2 (or so) and added bottoms and make-shift legs to them so theoretically we can move them to a new yard if/when the move happens.

GARDEN AT A GLANCE - CHAOS!

TOMATOES...PEPPERS?

BROCCOLI

AHH, THESE ARE THE PEPPERS, METHINKS...

While some things just stayed in the big boxes on the ground...

BEANS BEANS THE MUSICAL FRUIT...

ONIONS, LETTUCE, WEEDS...

Then I decided we should ditch the strawberry pyramid by the driveway because it was so dug up last year by vermin, and by Millie trying to get the vermin. Of course, I decided it a bit late, so we already have some strawberry plants growing strong among the weeds.

But we took a bunch of the smaller plants from there and expanded the existing strawberry bed along the tall fence. I will likely put a net over it to keep out birds and others.

The kids and I are already excited to see the strawberries-to-come growing in there. Nom nom nom!

Last year, late in the season, I picked up a trellis and a grape plant. In retrospect, not the best place to plant it. But it's growing, there are little buds, and I think what looks like little grape-bunches-to-be!

And the raspberries...well, I think we didn't prune them properly last year, so we'll just see what happens with them this year.

Even though I am not a "flower gardener" by any stretch, I do enjoy having flowers that just come up like an old friend stopping by for a visit. I plant things hoping they will be low maintenance, and usually have a great time watching them resurface and sometimes spread year to year.

CLEMATIS - NEW LAST YEAR?

SALVIA - HAS BEEN SPLIT AND MOVED ALL OVER THE PLACE IN THE YARD

COUPLE THINGS THAT ARE NOT GROWING SO AWESOMELY...NEW LAST YEAR

DIANTHUS -I swear I purchased the plant 4 years ago or so and it just comes right up, in the pot which is usually left on its side all fall/winter, every spring without fail. Looking for something foolproof folks? Dianthus all the way.

BUTTERFLY GARDEN, CHEERY CHERRY TREE IN THE FOREGROUND

VIBURNUM - Ellie loves shaking them to "make it snow"

DARN HONEYSUCKLE - Everyone else has issues with their honeysuckle taking over EVERYWHERE! I don't so much have that problem, but after a couple moves, it seems to be happy in its current location, hiding the rain barrels.

PRETTY PINK GERANIUM (surprise) - End of year gift from an instructor at work

THE HERBS - chives (also foolproof and perennial), basils, thyme, rosemary, catnip, parsley

OVERGROWN LILACS

SAD LAVENDERS BETWIXT THE LILACS

My front yard is always a forgotten wasteland. Lots going on, but very hit or miss.

Except the peonies...They have been growing here since I was a girl and would come to my gram's house to visit. I love these flowers. Ants be damned, Peonies are grand!

Startin' the Garden...

2011-04-10T22:10:00.000-07:00

EIGHTY FIVE DEGREES today, folks. 85. Degrees. In April. In Chicago.

60 and 50s this week.

I'll still take it.

This is what we do when we have 50s and 60s...

So you know I am awful at cleaning up the garden in the fall. EVERY YEAR. And every spring I claim I will not put it off that fall. And then I do put it off.

I also claim every year that I am going to get grow lights and actually get my act together with growing seedlings in the basement. And then I don't grow anything.

So my garden boxes are a wreck of sorts - patypan squash that are dried out and like little paper lanterns. Holiday yard decorations that normally live behind the garage on top of weeds.

Yikes.

And the lovely RATS (Yes, Rats) that plagued us last summer prompting me to abandon my love of spending time outside got into and ate a ton of my seeds that I had saved from last year's bounty.

Where was this guy last summer? Maybe he could have been a mouser...er, ratter.

Shaking it off and getting ready for a new, awesome growing season. Planted some lettuce (Black-seeded Simpson and Romaine) and put in some onion sets, then started a bunch of seeds in my homemade cold frame. Hoping for the best on those little guys.

Lettuce...Onions...

Grow, grow, grow!!!

Cherry tree has a few buds, as do the lilac bushes and the raspberries.

Strawberries are coming out among the weeds that have gone unchecked for months.

Hoping the sad grape vine will do ok this year...Strawberries here are going to be moved...Once I clear out these weeds...Yikes.

Yowza!

Chives are out and about and growing like crazy, as are my hyacinths. Rhubarb came up!

Buds on everything!

As we are hoping to move some time this year (possibly summer) I have been thinking of ways to make the garden somewhat portable in case we move mid-season. I will likely end up just transplanting everything as best I can. However, I have already pulled up 2 of my raised boxes from the back of the garden and may put a plywood base on them and put them up on a stand. In the space in that back corner I may finally put up the sunflower room I have wanted to do for a few years, but never quite got to it... I think a moss floor surrounded by a wall of sunflowers would be fabulous for hiding out in the summertime (For me AND the kids) (And probably the dog, too!)

What are YOUR garden plans this year? Anything new and exciting?

Back for my usual January update...

2011-02-05T20:43:00.000-08:00

After feeling so defeated after last season, I am getting amped up for a new season. I lay much of the credit for this on Baker Creek again, as their catalog leaves me drooling, though I also lean to D. Landreth for inspiration, as well.

Keep moving forward, right?

Anyway, we are in the process of looking for a new house, which may take some time. Of course, I am in a panic because like most gardening folks I know, your plans are laid out and in place by March, and who knows when we may find a place, close, and move? It could be March! It could be July! It could be October! What will I do with my garden???

Thankfully, I have already been doing Square Foot Gardening which I think will work to my benefit. My plan is to put bottoms on the boxes I have already built and perhaps put them up on "tables" made of plywood and horses so that if we end up moving mid-season, we can just hoist the "tables" up on the back of the truck and transfer it to the new yard. Thoughts? Suggestions?

Also, you know how after you spend a few years in the yard/garden, you have some plants and areas that you just adore and can't see leaving behind? Each seems to have a story to tell.

- The cherry tree from Michael and Charlotte the Mother's Day I was pregnant with Eleanor. It needs to come with us. It's just 4 years old, so I am hoping moving it will not cause any irreparable trauma. (Again, suggestions?)

- The lilac bushes that I had in about 3 locations before finding they work best next to our swing along the driveway?

- The raspberries that felt like they would never grow and thrive, and now are a veritable patch, and so delicious, and that we munch on straight from the plant all summer?

- The strawberries that started with a couple plants and have multiplied like crazy and I hope will continue to grow like crazy?

- My mini-butterfly garden?

So I guess my question is how poor form is it to uproot everything and take it with us when we move? I feel like a total weirdo, but you know you invest so much blood, sweat, tears, time watching some of these little guys grow, cheering for them, crying when they die off, cultivating new spaces for them to thrive...What to do?

I think it helps that in all likelihood, it will either be a family member moving in here who has minimal (no) interest in gardening or the home may come down altogether, so I don't feel like we are baiting and switching anyone who is purchasing it from us, you know?

It will be bittersweet to not look out at the garden and think "that's exactly where my grandfather had his garden when I was a kid!" but that is a mindset I am battling in every aspect when I think of leaving here.

I need recommendations for the tree transplant for sure (we're just outside Chicago, in the near west suburbs), and any thoughts or suggestions for the other stuff would be appreciated, too!

Sad Garden and Seed Saving

2010-10-16T13:14:00.000-07:00

Yeah, I crapped out on the garden this year.

The ongoing battle/issue with rats in the yard coming from neighboring properties beat me down. After seeing several in the garden (not snacking, just passing through IN THE DAYLIGHT on their way to chew a hole and nest in our garage) I freaked and broke down and ignored the garden for the rest of the season.

No tomato sauce. No frozen beans. No dehydrated tomatoes. Nothing. Just quit.

Which is pretty depressing, and goes totally against my intentions in the garden. My excitement of eating tomato sauce in March made from OUR garden's tomatoes was palpable. Ditto on the frozen beans and broccoli in January. It's an amazing feeling, and one I wanted to build on, and increase our yield and preservation each year. Our grandparents (OK, maybe our great-grandparents?) wouldn't have had the option to "get freaked out" and eschew their garden work for the season.

Obviously, I'm pretty disappointed in this whole deal. But am looking forward to next year ("KEEP MOVING FORWARD!" right?) and am collecting seeds from some of the fruit that has dried out on the vine or needs to be dried out. I planted a LOT of heirloom and non-genetically-modified vegetables this year, which means that saving the seeds should be a great head start on next year's garden.

SO...how does seed saving/local seed exchange work? Just find a local garden club? look on Craigslist? host a seed exchange myself? Is it in the fall or spring? so much to learn!!!

I'll post some pictures of the charming rat holes leading into their burrows under the yard, and the damage they've done digging up my whole strawberry pyramid. Arrgh. MOVING FORWARD!

Bird Baby!

2010-08-05T22:25:00.000-07:00

So one of the most fun things this summer was watching a couple of birds set up camp in our bird feeder to prepare for a little one.

Like March of the Penguins, McCook style - they tag teamed who was watching the egg, we witnessed the way that one would hang on a wire, the sitter would go meet it on the wire and then they'd hang for a couple minutes then make the switch.

And at the end?

A little baby.

(Awww)

Early August Garden

2010-08-05T22:04:00.001-07:00

Early July Garden

2010-08-05T22:00:00.001-07:00

Where have I been???

2010-08-03T12:36:00.000-07:00

I have lots of pictures to get posted up here, but have been a colossal slacker. Plus have had massive issues with internet connectivity lately. And I'm lazy.

Anyway, we will be losing the empty lot next to our driveway due to a library expansion project (much needed expansion project) so in order to reclaim a BIT of our yard space back next year, I will be reconfiguring the garden and moving all the boxes along the fence, clearing up the back third or so of the yard. It'll be interesting!

And in sad, sad, sad news (which actually made me cry real tears of frustration and disappointment) I had to rip down almost ALL of the green that had been growing in the garden.

Let me back up:

Last summer, I had a TON of volunteer cherry tomato plants that grew on the other side of the fence from old tomato plants that just went to seed. Guess what? I made a ton of sauce. And I had tons of tomatoes. And they were tasty and delicious.

So this summer, when cucumber vines started growing all over the place, I didn't take most of them down because I thought "wow! Volunteer cucumbers all over the place! Everyone will get pickles for christmas!" and let the vines grow and grow. Even when they started to shade out some of my tomatoes. Even when they hid some of my peppers.

Until I went out there the other day and saw that THERE WAS NO FRUIT ON THESE VINES. That's right. NO CUCUMBERS. When I get the pictures up, you'll see why I was so shocked and angry with myself for being so stupid. Last year I didn't have the bee in my bonnet about getting all heirloom/organic/non-GM/non-hybrid seeds and plants. Some of them were, sure. But not everything. Not the cucumbers, apparently.

I have deduced that that is what happened here. Because why else wouldn't anything have produced fruit?

So I've torn down all the green. And decided to make some lemonade with this little lemon situation, and am dedicating myself to planting some awesome stuff for a fall garden.

Oh, and in other sad news, my raspberries took a BEATING in a series of summer storms and have been cut down pretty low. Also disappointing and frustrating.

It hasn't been a banner year out in the garden this year. I've had better years in my 7 years of gardening. And I'm sure I'll have worse years as I continue to learn and experiment.

More to come...

Mid-June Garden

2010-06-20T22:19:00.000-07:00

Delish!

2010-06-20T22:07:00.000-07:00

So far, here's some of the tasty treats we've been enjoying from the garden:

Romaine Lettuce - TONS! Also Butterleaf Lettuce. Lots of tasty salads with dressings from the herb garden. YUM!

OK. So I don't like radishes. BUT I had seeds, gave it a whirl. LOVED how they came up - peekaboo style - after I had totally forgotten what was planted there. Thankfully, Michael loves them with a little salt as a snack. SUCCESS!

Strawberries! My favorite thing about having a home garden is picking raspberries and strawberries and just eating them as I walk through the yard. I find it a very very sad statement that my kids sometimes get weirded out by garden strawberries because they are "soft" in comparison to grocery store strawberries. How far removed from our food sources we have become...

Broccoli - yum. Brought it in and blanched it straightaway so half the cooking effort would be done already.

Li'l Cherry Tree is producing delicious fruit. Can't wait until it is cranking out the cherries!

More strawberries. YUM! I say. YUM!

Sugar Snap Peas (left) and regular ol' peas (right)

Early June Garden

2010-06-20T21:45:00.000-07:00

Garden slideshow from June 3rd...Everything's going gangbusters!

Mid May Garden

2010-06-10T09:56:00.000-07:00

Mid May Garden

Early May Garden

2010-06-10T09:29:00.000-07:00

Early May Garden

April Garden

2010-06-10T09:01:00.000-07:00

April 10

March Garden

2010-05-23T19:08:00.000-07:00

Wowzer. OK, pictures of the garden as it was in late March (March 19-21st-ish).

It always amazes me that even though ICANNOTWAIT until I can get seeds and plants in the ground, I am so impatient, I feel like it takes FOREVER to get things growing in the garden every spring, that when I look back and see how much grows, how green things get in a span of a few weeks, a month - it is incredible.

The onset of gardening season always seems so glum. See newer posts for current/time progression pictures, but for now, here you have the pre-green world of our backyard world...

Grow, Grow, Grow, Grow!!

2010-05-01T19:10:00.000-07:00

The garden is 99.9% planted. Out of my 7 garden boxes (and the 2 little boxes that the girls planted. And then dug up. And then threw mulch on. And then covered with picked weeds, and then demanded to know why nothing is growing yet...), each with 16 square foot squares, I only have about 6 or 8 squares available for planting.

I had bunches of seeds, seedlings, and plants that I had been stashing under my homemade rickety cold frame while waiting for the last frost date. May First! IN!

I've used seeds and transplants from a number of different sources. Hometown Seeds generously provided a seed sampler for me, and some I planted and then I saved many of them for next season to test their storage longevity. I also ordered from D. Landreth, and a couple things from Baker Creek. And then my standard browse-and-grab Burpee seeds from the local big box, and seedlings from my fave local little garden centers (Clover's, a couple little joints in Bridgeview, and some folks giving away seedlings on Craigslist).

I'm hoping to get some pictures up, but cannot find Char's camera, which is what i used to take pictures. I'm really really really trying to document everything this year, loved being able to do a time-lapse overview of how things changed last year.

Here's what's planted, box by box:
Box 1:
Black Simpson Lettuce
Little Caesar Lettuce
Romaine Lettuce
Radishes

Box 2:
Endive
Spinach
Black Krim Tomatoes
Pineapple Hybrid Tomatoes

Box 3:
Zucchini
Scallop Squash (White, Green, Yellow)
Bush Beans (Two Varieties)

Box 4:
Yellow onions
Beets

Box 5:
Peas
Broccoli

Box 6:
Bell Pepper
Hot Pepper
Sugar Snap Peas
Banana Pepper
San Marzano Tomatoes
Mamma Mia Tomatoes
Valencia Heirloom Tomatoes

Box 7:
Edamame
Pickling Cucumbers
Burpless Cucumbers
Jalapeno Peppers
Asparagus Beans (Which was from a Burpee Heirloom packet, and had less than 25 seeds. Just saying, seemed stingy...)

I moved my herb pots to the other side of the fence from the raspberry jungle on a bench I garbage picked a few years ago. Basil, thai basil, rosemary, parsley, chives, dill. I have a ton of random lumber and was planning on making a large planter box for the driveway - instead of having to go in the garden, through the fence to access them, they are right there. My husband is pretty sure I just can't leave things how they are. Ever. And that I obsessively need to move things around. He MAY have a point.

I'm also expanding my "butterfly garden" which seemingly gets a dump of whatever I find attractive while wandering around garden centers or the internet.

Cherry tree is ROCKING and we're going to have fruit this year...there are little baby green cherries on there, cannot wait! Little green strawberries are sprouting up all over, too.

Love love love this time of year!

Inventory

2010-03-27T06:08:00.000-07:00

OK, so I just went through all my seeds last night - between the Survival Kit I received from Hometown Seeds and some randoms I picked up at Menards, I am already at about 35 different crops/vegetables/plants. WOWZER.

And I still have about 5 or 6 things that I still want to order.

I guess this will be the year I really try to focus on continuous planting and staying on top of things, which I've always slacked on. No empty spots, continuous harvest, it should be great!

One of the things that I want to really plant lots and lots of is lavender. I love the smell, and after my friend Sara posted a beautiful picture of a field of lavender, I would love to just have a whole yard full of it. Or a nice patch of it. I am trying to figure out a spot where I can have a lavender patch, but I feel like my lavender never really comes up that well.

Awww, memories

2010-03-26T01:17:00.000-07:00

I'm on spring break next week, and am unable to sleep, and am trying to get some stuff done around the house that is no big whip, but that I need to do. So I'm on Shutterfly and Snapfish going through pictures back to when Char was little, and I'm coming across some old garden pics through the years.

Enjoy!

2005 - It looks so little in retrospect...

Then in 2006, we had 2 raised bed boxes...

Still rockin' the 2 boxes in 2008...hadn't yet heard of Square Foot Gardening...

Ahh, Built all my boxes and later the supports for tomatoes, etc...2009 was the garden space explosion!

(and apparently I didn't take any pictures when it was lush mid-summer? Just the creepy shot after the first surprise frost made it look like a haunted house garden? WEIRD)

I need to find pics from 2003, 2004, 2007...

What? Where? Huh?

2010-03-18T23:08:00.000-07:00

Where are you all ordering your seeds from?

I am behind the eight ball on ordering for this season, but I'm okay with it. I was super excited to order a bunch from Baker Creek, but I'm having issues with their online ordering system. Keeps dumping my cart after each item I add to it.

Anyway...

What're you growing? I've got my list ready...but it is always changing and evolving...

Here goes!

Edemame - Envy

Chinese Red Noodle Beans

Bush Beans or these guys

Pole Beans

Sugar Snap Peas

Tomatoes - Yikes - where to start??

Lettuce/Greens/Salad!

Broccoli/Broccolini

Zucchini

PattyPan Squash YUM!

Onions

Potatoes

Cu-Cu-Cucumbers

OH! And Grapes!! I am completely clueless on this. My grandfather used to grow grapes here, but in the front yard, 60 some years ago. This sweet little picture is from, oh, let's say 64 years ago or so? And there's the grape arbor in the front of our house. Now there is a great big tree, so that space isn't feasible. But I have a couple little corners in mind.

AND I finally purchased a rain barrel, something I fully intended to do last year and just didn't get around to doing. The Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Great Chicago has a rain barrel purchase program for (I think) Cook County residents. $50 each, 2 barrel limit per family. SUPER excited to get that hooked up. We have visions of getting a second one and installing a gutter on one end of the garage (close to the garden boxes) and setting up a drip system from the rain barrel...

Oh well. It's 1am. I'm going to place my orders and then get some rest. Ellie and I are going to be working in the garden tomorrow, or possibly just building and staining some supports. I am still having visions of TONS of vertical plantings, and possibly some canopied crops (cukes or tomatoes growing from a support in one box to a support in another box, providing a canopy over the walkway/aisle).

OH! Sidenote: I am also fascinated by the survival seed movement that has popped up here and there in my internet garden reading. It's pretty much what it sounds like: In case of crisis or food shortage, you'd have this stockpile of seeds with proven high germination rates that you could plant to sustain yourself/your family. Seeds are all non-hybrid/GMO so you would be able to save the seeds to plant again the next season.

Now. I am not saying that I think the end is upon us. However, I am the first to admit that growing your own food is an amazing feeling that, for me, brings about a real sense of self-sufficiency and security. The fact that we are JUST running out of beans and broccoli now, in March, from last summer? It's pretty incredible to me. It's a really capable feeling, I feel very accomplished, a very sustainable goal achieved.

That said, I've checked out a group called Hometown Seeds. They offer survival seed packages with a wide variety of plants and a long seed shelf life. They have graciously offered to send me a sample packet of their survival seed kit, and I'm going to plant a selection from it and track the progress and growth here.

Dedication

2010-01-10T20:49:00.000-08:00

Maybe now that I've told a friend of mine that I have a garden blog, perhaps I'll be more inclined to diligently post on it. Obviously not much is shaking in the wintertime, but the planning is beginning. Oh, the planning. Bwa ha ha!

Anyway, I think I'm going to start thinking aloud here as I plan...

Anyone in the Chicago area grow grapes or edible soybeans/edamame? I want to do both this year, but am nervous on the grapes.

Definitely still planning on vertical stuff, and less tomatoes as our tomato space is RIDICULOUS. And I'm going to do potatoes, for sure.

So far the only catalogs I have are Burpee and Gurney's, and I'm waiting for my Baker Creek to come in, as that catalog, as I think I said last year, is like garden porn. I'm drooling thinking about it right now.

I also want to try a seed exchange group, but have never done that before.

Oops

2009-12-31T13:11:00.000-08:00

I started to incorporate my garden stuff into my other, family-ish blog.

BUT now that the seed catalogs have started coming in, I'm all excited anew to get cracking on planning my 2010 garden!!!

I'm planning to do a lot more vertical planting, and definitely want to try to grow grapes, too. I want to put a playhouse for my girls in the back corner of the garden (I use planter boxes for square foot gardening) so we'll see how that goes, too.

What are you going to grow next year?

September already?!

2009-09-05T07:25:00.000-07:00

How can it be September?

If you're in the Chicago area, you know that our summer was, well, let's say atypical at best. Some of my plants that really love the hot suffered as we had some nice 90 degree days in June, and then spent most of July below 83 degrees. And rainy. Blech.

I have not planted some of the things I wanted to get going for fall, but I'm going to give it a whirl anyway, even though it is kind of late, and hope that we'll just get some late summer weather that'll be conducive to a longer growing season.

Here's some random items from the garden - I've been super neglectful on posting on here this summer.

The onions:

Onions came up a little on the small side. A friend told me that if you step on the green as it comes up, they'll get bigger (energy will go to growing the bulb instead of the greens). Any thoughts on this? Makes sense to me, and I'm going to try it with the ones that I planted for fall
Onions drying in the garage

In other news, we had a pretty phallic summer over here, too. It was our first year growing zucchini, and man, I GET THE JOKES NOW about having too much. Good grief. I have bags of shredded/grated zucchini in the freezer so I can use it off-season to make zucchini bread, etc. Cucumbers started off strong, and I am not sure if it is the weather or how I had them set to grow that failed me, but they've not been producing - tons of leaves and vines, but very very few cucumbers.
I grew them vertically up a trellis of chicken wire, and put a "roof" on top for them to grow on, too. I had visions of cucumbers growing off that and just dangling from the roof for us to grab. That has not panned out. Dang. Making me rethink my idea for next year which involved growing cukes in two separate boxes and putting a canopy like that between two trellises to make a covered walkway between the garden boxes.

One day, my older daughter Charlotte and I looked over the fence and saw this: Yep, volunteer cherry tomato plants. I will admit to occasionally tossing overripe tomatoes over the fence. It's not very mature, or, I guess, neighborly, but it is the library's property and I certainly didn't think anything would grow (the terrain is rocky. Like landscaping rocks.) but I WAS WRONG. The nice thing is, we are getting a kick out of having these extra plants to harvest from (there's some on the side of the house, too, where I have never tossed a tomato, so we know that birds and the like are involved in this, too.) and my girls get to learn how nature really works - plants growing because of animals bringing seeds to different locations, etc.

Corn! I agree with people that corn is not worth the space it takes up. And with the abundance of local growers at roadside stands and farmers markets, there is no reason to grow corn. EXCEPT that it is fun to watch grow, to see if it is really going to be "knee high by July," and to finally harvest it. Plus we have the stalks ready to go for fall/Hallowe'en decorating. So I think it'll make an appearance in coming years.

Bush beans have continued to ROCK in our garden. I have so many in the freezer right now, it isn't even funny. Plus we've been enjoying them at meals every couple days. My brother, raised on canned green beans (soggy, metallic flavor tinge, etc.), has hated green beans with a passion. He gave our crisp, fresh, delicious garden fresh beans a try, and he's a convert! Amazing!

My first batch of peppers tanked. I didn't water enough (I rarely water, I like to see what Nature can do for us. Oh, and I'm awfully lazy) and the cool weather sucked the life out of them. In July or August, I purchased more pepper plants to toss into the garden, and coddled them a bit...we had some hot weather, and BOOM goes the peppers. Hurrah! (FINALLY!)

Finally, the carrots. Oh dear God, the carrots. Every couple years I get a wild hair to grow carrots. We love them! We all eat them! Let's grow 'em!
But the vigilance to make them grow up right...I can only commit that kind of dedication to raising my kids. Thinning them out to prevent overcrowding is not my thing (um, that's why we only have 2 kids, too) so I end up with this gnarled insane gross mess:

I put one in Char's lunchbox to freak her out at lunchtime. She came home and said it was really weird and no, no one liked it in there at all. Kids have no sense of humor.
Anyway, they were still tasty enough, so I grated 'em and froze em for off-season use.

I don't know why my pictures are all tiny, so sorry about that. That's kind of the summary of summer stuff. I've been canning tomato sauce made with cherry tomatoes for the past few weeks and have about 7 pints in the pantry now. Making it with the cherry tomatoes has been a colossal pain in the ass, but what're you going to do? I've been adding in our little yellow pear tomatoes and they make for a really nice sauce.

Happy growing!

Garden in July - the hits

2009-07-25T21:47:00.000-07:00

So yeah, I had some missteps. And that is just the veggie garden! Not touching the flowers and such! Here are some of the more promising developments in the ol' garden.

1) I like the square foot gardening method. The boxes are attractive and orderly, and some day, when I get my act together, the garden will be a little more like a retreat kind of place. I'm a fan.

2) We have about 8 tomato plants, in two boxes. One box is producing a lot more ripe fruit than the other, mostly grape and cherry tomatoes, but now the Black Krims are coming in (as of today) - cannot wait to try them!

3) Broccoli - We are so happy that we grow broccoli. It grew nicely this year, though a couple times we missed our harvest time and they started to get flowers/bolt/whatever you call it before we could get to it. Dang.

4) Lettuce - From May on, we've enjoyed salad after salad after salad. Right now, our romaine is all done, but we're enjoying some soft, loose leaf type lettuce pretty regularly. Yum!

5) Cabbage - First year growing it, and so far so good. Harvested one head, made a slaw, it was good!

6) Sugar Snap Peas - First year, again, and delish!!! Loved picking 'em right off the vine and popping out the peas and noshing on 'em. Mmm.

7) Bush Beans - Just about the only thing we grew from seed that grew well. I have blanched and frozen tons of the beans (and broccoli) for use in the fall/winter. We used a lot for dinners, and they taste so much better when you eat them 10 feet away from where you picked them!

8) Random structures - As my small wire "supports" became epic FAILS, I started hauling through the random pieces of wood in the garage rafters and constructing more stable supports for tomatoes, cucumbers, etc. They are totally hillbilly rigged, with twine and chicken wire accents, but they do the job nicely. I think when fall comes I'll start making more permanent structures for next year. Maybe starting it in the fall will keep my memory fresh as to JUST HOW HUGE tomatoes, zucchini, etc. get! Looking at the pictures, maybe they should be back in the MISSES post! But they are getting it done.

Tomatoes before supports
Tomato support structure 1
Hey, it was all random wood from the rafters, it ain't pretty!
Ahh, the cucumber cage. Someone said it looks like a jail. I guess the chicken wire resembles barbed wire a bit.

The structure I WAS actually proud of was my strawberry pyramid (also from scrap wood in the garage). However, it took a beating from the dog (see misses).

9) Onions - We've had tons. None of them are getting HUGE like the ones you'd buy at the store. I've been picking them for green onion use, and some of the smaller bulbed ones for burgers and cooking. Is it because SFG doesn't go deep enough for them to really settle in and get huge? I really wanted to dry some, too. They are delish, though!

10) Raspberries - OH MY GOSH - they grew out of control in the spring. Canes sprouted up EVERYWHERE and we just kind of ran with it. Cut down a whole bunch of them, let a whole bunch more stay where they were, and have been munching on tasty raspberries all summer, just about. It seems like production is dying down a little, not sure if it is because we just had a huge storm, or just end of season for them. But I've been loving picking it straight from the plant and popping 'em in my mouth - the kids have, too!

Anyway, though I don't think the harvest numbers are anywhere near impressive enough to say "oh, we saved a ton by growing our own veggies this summer" I have still kept somewhat track of what we've yielded. Obviously some stuff didn't get weighed (especially berries, as they were just munched outside!). Here's the rundown (in pounds):

Lettuce: 5.05 (We didn't weigh all of it in the early harvesting days of May)
Strawberries: 1 (that made it into the house for weighing)
Raspberries: 1.05 (ditto to above)
Broccoli: 4.58
Beans: 2.22
Sugar Snap Peas: 1.15 (see strawberry and raspberry thing)
Tomatoes (Grape): 1.38
Tomatoes (Cherry): 1.54
Tomatoes (Black Krim): 1.3
Tomatoes (Yellow): 1.10 (That was just one tomato!)
Onions: 2.14
Cabbage: 1.25
Cucumbers: 2.09
Zucchini: 2.66

I thought I saw, at some point, a counter widget for blogs that you could use to track your harvest...anyone know where I can find that?

How is YOUR garden growing?

Garden in July - the misses

2009-07-25T20:47:00.000-07:00

As always, a garden has certain wild card elements. Some in my control, some out of my control. This year is no different.

Here are some of the issues I've faced this season:

1) Compost heap: I had a dream. A dream of compost piles in the back corner of the yard. No tumbler, just heaps. And then the ugly rodent situation reared its ugly little head again, and I ditched that idea. Not ditched it, but put it on hold until I can get a tumbler.

2) Rain barrels: After getting all excited because our water reclamation center was selling them, I didn't buy 'em. A friend said he had old clean barrels I could have, and then we didn't hang out for awhile, kind of forgot, and then each time it rained I just got pissed as I remembered I wanted rain barrels.

3) Cauliflower: There was some mildewy yuk on the heads when they started to come up, and after cutting it back and waiting for new heads to come up, they didn't really co me up. I pulled it up to clear space for peppers (see #6)

4) Broccolini and Broccoli Raab: Neither grew well. Spindly and didn't really look "right" - a real shame as my grocery store no longer carries broccolini and we miss it. Horribly.

5) Supports: So I thought that the metal square cages - you know the ones? They can fold flat, but they can be put like a long fence, or folded into squares around plants? Anyway, thought I was all slick, used those along the back of my boxes to support tomatoes. How do I have the selective memory that allows me to forget HOW DAMN HEAVY tomatoes get??? Every year I forget. Anyway, they were obviously not strong enough to support my plants and I had to modify my plans and rig something up. Ghetto, but functional. See upcoming "HITS" post to see the pics. Maybe it should be in "MISSES" - you be the judge!

6) Zucchini takes up a LOT of space. As does watermelon. And butternut squash. And if you think you can shove a bunch of any of these in a 4x4 box, and try to slip something else in there...just don't. I had peppers planted in the back box with a variety of HUGE things, and ended up transplanting them to other boxes. They weren't really thriving where they were (I had them in a couple boxes) and they seem to have perked up a bit since being transplanted.

7) I guess my strawberries were mostly June-bearing. What a gyp. Great for those few weeks, and now we're strawberry-less. Sigh. Will have to remedy that next year. Also, my beautiful strawberry pyramid that I fashioned out of spare wood in the garage rafters? Yeah. Almost entirely dug into by THAT DANG DOG. In fairness, it was in her fervored pursuit of the rodents mentioned above, so I had a hard time being too angry. But it still sucked.

8) Square foot gardening is both boon and bane. Love it in so many ways. However, was lulled into thinking that with the landscape fabric underneath, there would be minimal weeding. DUH except for the ones that come from airborne sources. Or sneak over from the lawn. DUH, Amy.

9) I need to get things in order. As usual, I let things go, and have great ideas on paper at the beginning of the season, and then...well, life happens and I have half finished projects all over the place and that happened in the garden, too. I put in a brick pathway between two of the front boxes. Um...I am not good at this. I am going to get a pretty wood sign to put over it that reads "Ankle Breaker" in another language. It's a bit uneven, and not super great, but I am still proud of it. Ish.

Stay tuned for the "Hits"...

Garden pics - June 14th

2009-06-14T19:50:00.000-07:00

Here's some pics from today showing the garden progress this season...

Following are the issues I'm facing and concerns:

1) Cauliflower has a black weirdness on top of the head. Looks like dirt/dust, but doesn't wipe off easily
2) Mini-roses have black spots on the leaves. I'm actually not too concerned about that
3) Honeysuckle smells great, but isn't really filling out/growing as much as I had hoped
4) We had one little hot pepper, and something swiped it/ate it. Our peppers in the same box as tomatoes seem to be slow to grow, and I realize they have huge tomato plants in the next row, but the tomatoes are at the north end of the box
5) The compost heap...Sigh. I need to get cracking on this, closing it off and really dedicating myself to it and getting it going
6)Corn is already knee high, and it isn't July! Just waiting for it to bring some horrible pests to the garden at large
7) Our herbs are not taking off as well as they have in the past. I guess when a 70 degree high is a HOT day in June, it could stump some of our herbs, but I really thought I'd have a ridiculous amount of basil by now. Not so much
8) Does anyone know where I can find the widget-or-whatever-you-call-it that tracks how much produce you're harvesting throughout the season?

Harvested almost 2 pounds of lettuce today, and half a pound of strawberries (awesome in comparison to the fact that we yielded about 3 strawberries - TOTAL - in 2008).

A friend of ours gave me a new water canning pot and a case of mason jars and lids to prepare me for the fall harvest and canning season. I'm going to be making some sauce this week to jam through the rest of the tomatoes I canned last summer.

How does YOUR garden grow???

Composting

2009-06-11T09:29:00.000-07:00

So I marked off my little area in the back of the yard/garden for where I'm going to put the compost pile. But I haven't yet put up the pallets for walls. Which I think I need to do lest critters come about to nibble on our fruit remnants.

And I didn't yet purchase my kitchen composter, but decided to start collecting anyway. So whenever I'm cutting fruit, cracking eggs, or peeling potatoes, I toss the remains into a flower vase that has been sitting on the kitchen counter for a month (I had flowers in it, at some point...Mothers Day maybe? and I washed it, and never got around to bringing it downstairs to put away). I should snap a pic of my hillbilly kitchen composter, filled to the brim with stuff. So far, no fruit flies or stink, so I'll go with it. I do enjoy that there's some sweet nasty liquid at the bottom!

Garden update - May 22, 2009

2009-05-22T20:26:00.001-07:00

Dinner tonight: Grilled southwest chicken salad. All the lettuce freshly cut from the garden. Dressing made with chives and parsley from the garden.

Nothing tastes better than eating the little guys that you've been watching grow from little seedlings.

I need to get one of those harvest tracker thing-ama-bobs because I'm meticulously weighing anything I cut/harvest from the garden (not herbs, but veggies, which has only been lettuce/greens thus far). I'm sure that will get hard to track once the tomatoes start up, as we pop so many little ones as a snack when hanging outside and just pick and give away over the fence.

Anyway, here's some pics from the past day or two of what's been shaking/developing. The lilacs finally bloomed - the scent is fantastic! We went from a late frost to mid to high 80 temperatures in the same week, and I think it took a minor toll on some of the plants, but all seem to be doing okay.

Green in the wrong kinda way...

2009-05-10T19:40:00.000-07:00

Two of my friends who live up the block have an empty lot next to their house. Their father owns the empty lot, and they just put in a huge garden today. And when I say huge, I mean HUGE.

I am super jealous, and openly told them that. Their aunt and cousins were helping them put it in, and I think it is going to be more of a family kind of garden, but...did I mention it is HUGE? I swear it is bigger than my whole yard.

I can't believe I have garden envy like this. Sad, sad, sad.

Plea for Help

2009-05-05T18:39:00.000-07:00

Ever get started looking for one little thing, and then you find a great forum, and then BOOM all of a sudden it is 3am and you still don't know if you can move your strawberries or how to do it, but you have about 8,000 new ideas for your garden and the wheels are turning because you're trying to think of where you can put this great new thing you just HAVE to grow?

Um, so it happened to me. OK, it's happened to me a lot. And it happened again last night. Sigh.

Anyway, in the week and a half since I last posted, a lot of stuff has started coming up and making itself known in the garden. Other stuff...not so much. I am doing a square foot gardening (kinda) thing, and still have two completely empty boxes, which is especially good since I always SUCK at succession planting and this way I will have some space to play around at the end of summer.

So here's the stuff I have questions on:
1) I gather that I cannot move my strawberries now (just planted them last year). However, is it okay for me to pluck out some of the daughter plants/runners that have rooted to transfer to a pyramid box set-up I'm building?

2) And if so....with the strawberry pyramid set up, I get the nesting doll thing with the box sizes. But do I fill the WHOLE bottom box with soil/compost/sand mix and then put the next box on top? I feel like that is wasting all that soil under the second box. I can't find a straight answer.

3) Is there a chance that the sunflower seeds I meticulously harvested from my rockin' flowers last summer/fall won't take this year? I planted a bunch today, and am now in fear that they won't grow for whatever reason and I'll be sunflower-less. I guess I can wait and see, but wonder if there are any odds for that kind of thing.

4) Our birdfeeder is currently right in the garden. We can move it with some effort, if we need to. Will the bird poop adversely affect the soil/plants? what about the leftover seed/feed that spills out? Just wonder if I need to move it for the benefit of the garden.

5) I want to start a compost pile. I'm thinking in the back of the yard, by the fence and the garden. I'm wondering if compost piles smell really bad. I know, I know, logic would dictate that they do. But just curious. I want it close to the garden, but don't want to have a stinky pile of compost spoiling my fake nature retreat.

6) Everyone's lilacs are blooming in town, except for mine. WTF? It is really annoying me as I cruise through town and smell the blooms, see everyone's pretty purple and white flowers, and come home to my shriveled looking whatever the heck is on there. Picture below, let me know if anyone has any insight.

Overview of them behind the swing. There are 4 bushes total.

Close up of the "blooms" - are they just not ready to burst open yet? Or is there something going on here?

Ditto to the above caption.

7) My raspberry canes, planted last summer, multiplied over the fall/spring. I pulled out a ton of the little scraggly ones, but some of the sturdier, thicker ones I have left. Will these become regular canes and produce fruit? The stalks aren't wood-like yet, like the canes I planted last year, but I am thinking this is just how these things work, right?

WHEW.

OK, so if anyone has any insight of any of these questions, I'd appreciate it!

OK.

Garden thus far...

2009-04-25T00:16:00.001-07:00

So I've been taking advantage of the great weather we've been getting around here and planting some goodies in the garden.

I built a small cold frame using old windows and spare boards we had in the garage. Imagine my excitement as my little seedlings from my "Ghetto Greenhouses" made their way into the cold frame!! Imagine my joy as they seemed to be in the right place, some sunshine glowing in there, a little moisture building up!! Imagine my sorrow when I realized that I didn't pop it open on a warm day or two, and everything in there ROASTED. Sigh.

Also, a bunch of the seeds planted in ghetto greenhouses didn't sprout. Another sigh.

BUT...that's why we have garden centers with people you like running the show. Even though I now feel like a cheater. And even though I put in a lot of effort on those babies. Oh well. We will still have produce this season, by hook or by crook, and I planted a bunch of seeds directly into the garden boxes.

Also, I am giving the "Square Foot Gardening" method a whirl, but with some modifications. I built all the boxes and grids. Went out to buy the materials for the "Mel's Mix" and realized I'd have to sell my first born to fill every box with it, so I poked around on the internet and came up with some alternatives for Mel's Mix using compost, soil, some peat moss, and ran with it. Fingers crossed that it'll work out well enough.

Soooo....here's the play by play on what is planted. Frankly, I am just so damn excited to see GREEN happening all over the yard, I'm in a great mood every time I walk out there!!

Overview of the garden area (aka the back third of the yard)
Lettuce, broccoli, cabbage, rapini, broccolini
Chives & garlic chives in the mini-barrel, peas, beans, lettuce
Tomatoes, peppers (hot and bell), bush beans
Middle left - onions, leeks, celery, tomatoes. Middle middle - cucumbers. Back row - empty. Smaller box to the left - potatoes. Herbs in the pots (rosemary, thyme, parsley, lavender).
Raspberries and hyacinths (which blossomed today and smell amazing! And the cold frame of doom.
Strawberry patch. I'm building a pyramid box, and am unsure if I can move them at this stage or if I have to wait until next season? Thoughts?
Cherry Tree!!! and butterfly garden in the background.
I think this is the salvia from last year. And I planted a few snapdragons to get some color in there now.
Lilacs are nice and green, can't wait for them to blossom so I can smell them as I lounge on my swing!

Garden 2009: State of the Yard/Garden

2009-03-21T18:21:00.000-07:00

Well, today was a very busy day for the fam. Hubs hauled through the garage and set up our new workbench while I built 4x4 raised bed boxes for the garden.

* We're going to proceed with some Square Foot Gardening this season and hope it will be successful for us, with less fuss and muss and more yield in the end. After poring through Mel Bartholomew's book, I decided to do some advance work on locating vermiculite, which I had been unable to find at our Menards/Home Depot over the past few weeks, at least not in large bags. Thankfully, I found out that Wannemakers (Downers Grove) carries it in large bags, so when I'm ready, I'll be heading there to pick it up for my "Mel's Mix" for the beds.

* I'm definitely not a crafts(wo)man by any stretch. Considering the "horses" I used to cut the wood are actually, um, two patio chairs, I'm impressed anything got done at all. So I've made four 4x4 boxes so far. I think I'm going to try to make two or three more this week and then configure the garden space. I've also made a couple of 3.5x3.5 boxes that I plan to use for potatoes. I was going to give the garbage can method a whirl, but had some random wood lying about, so made some boxes that I can stack and fill with dirt as they grow.

* Some pleasant discoveries...While clearing out the fall/winter debris, I discovered that the strawberries are already starting to green up and look like they're as excited for spring and warm weather as I am! We yielded about three last year (Yeah, like 3 strawberries. Total.) so I have high hopes for some tasty fruit this year. There were some errant runners that seem to be coming up outside of the allotted strawberry patch, so I think I'll extend it a bit this year.

* And in a very happy surprise, I went to move a pot, and in all the dead, dry foliage from last year, tons of fresh green chives were already coming up!! What a thrill! We pulled a couple pieces off and chewed on 'em. Tastes like spring and yumminess. I transferred them from that pot into a cute little mini-barrel planter I picked up at Tuesday Morning for under $10.

* The "ghetto greenhouses" are coming along... I think. Of everything I planted in them, I think broccoli raab, swiss chard, spinach, and lettuce are the only things really starting to come up. Reserving hope for them as the weather warms up, though two were subject to some abuse by the hound from hell, Millie.

* OH, and since we got new windows, I made a cold frame. Kind of. I didn't do it properly with angling it and so on. I basically made a box to match the window size and then attached a window with the hinge. And my measurements were off a tad, so it looks a little askew. Hmm... Tossed in some peat pots with seeds planted and I'm crossing my fingers. I liked seeing some condensation in it today, and popped it open as it was about 65 or so outside. We have a bunch of windows left, so I plan to make one or two more. If anyone in the area wants a couple, let me know! We're right by Brookfield Zoo.

Soooo....That's about it for where things are so far. Slowly but surely marching into growing season, and hoping it is the best year yet!

Way behind on posting, but catching up elsewhere!

2009-03-21T18:18:00.001-07:00

OK, OK, OK...I've been incredibly errant in keeping up with my blog here, but with good reason! I've been taking advantage of the lovely weather that has been shining down on us here and there and getting a lot done outside!!

I went to the Flower & Garden Show and have to say it was amazing. Separate post forthcoming on that shebang. Needless to say, saw an awful lot of ideas that made me think I should just demolish the garage and half the driveway to make more room for garden space. Alas, I'm stuck with my little backyard garden and a yard overrun by a dog and two kids. Sigh. A girl can dream, though. Right?

Been reading up on Square Foot Gardening and decided that I'm going to give it a whirl this season. Worth a shot, and seems like it may be easier to tend and easier to protect than rows if I want to try to extend the growing season well into the fall.

Otherwise just puttering about, enjoying the green smell in the air, and time outside with the family!!!

Chicagoland Flower & Garden Show

2009-03-09T15:10:00.001-07:00

Hi folks!

Mr. Brown Thumb (a great local gardening blog, if you haven't checked it out yet) was able to score some great passes for some of us garden bloggers for the Chicagoland Flower & Garden Show. I'm scoping out the seminars to determine what days I should get someone to watch the girls so I can head down there unfettered.

I'll be posting about my adventures there. I recommend checking out Mr. Brown Thumb's blog to check out some of the great stuff he's already posted from the show.

More to follow...

Wowee!

2009-02-27T08:32:00.001-08:00

I just looked at my list of what I've started already and the things I want to start, and I think I should knock down the garage to make room. Eek! Going to work on some square foot gardening principles, companion planting, and succession planting to get it all in there!

Are any of you Chicago gardeners growing grapes? We'd like to give it a try, but space is at a premium and I'm wondering if it is feasible to train them on our back fence or if that is a poor idea?

Hmm...

Jump starting the garden season (hopefully!!)

2009-02-21T12:31:00.001-08:00

From one of the gardening blogs I follow (see sidebar), I linked through to a site about Winter Sowing seeds in plain plastic containers. Mr. BrownThumb also had a great post about starting plants from seed in 2 liter soda bottles. As one of my issues EVERY season is starting too late or letting seedlings dwindle away because I don't have things ready for transplanting, I thought maybe I'll give this a whirl. Plus I like to make my backyard and garden look as completely white trash as possible.

Mission accomplished.

For the record, I LOVE that Mr. BrownThumb calls these "ghetto greenhouses"

Anyway, it was simple as pie, and I'm hopeful for great results. My husband was, I think, a bit put out that I put a "2 liter bottles ONLY" rule into effect for soda consumption the past month or so, so tons of healthy transplants would be the only way to compensate for that.

Check out the links above for details on how to do this, but I had 14 bottles (2 liter soda bottles, translucent milk gallons, and juice bottles) to work with today, and had to fish around for seeds that I wanted to start. See, unprepared! Plus it was really odd to have my hands in soil since we just had about 3 inches of snow dropped on the Chicago metro area over the past day or so.

But I digress. Here are the seeds I went with for round one. I put them all out today, February 21st, and plan to do more once I get my orders in at the seed shops. I've got so many pages dog-eared in all the catalogs I have, it is ridiculous, and at this rate I will need to demolish the house to make room for more garden space!

Basil, Broccoli Raab, Lavender, Swiss Chard, Bush Bean, Broccoli, Leaf Lettuce (2 varieties), Spinach, Carrots, Garden Peas, Zinnias (I told you I had to scrape for seeds to fill up the bottles I had on hand), Sweet Pepper, and Cauliflower
ADDED 2/24: Chives and Onions

So hopefully that'll be a good jump start. I'm going to try to get the rest of my seed orders in tomorrow or Monday and maybe start some more seeds next week. My only real fear, is that the nemesis of my garden, the hound from hell, will leave my bottles of goodness alone! Because, you know, she looks a lot less evil than she is, and I just hope that she'll behave herself, resist the temptation, and not force me to pen her up outside so she can't get into it. If I sound bitter, it is because I busted her several times last year eating cucumbers from the vine, running around the yard with a raspberry cane in her mouth like a bone, and digging through more beds than I care to recall.

Fingers crossed!!!

2009 Green Goals

2009-01-16T19:42:00.001-08:00

OK, I've been thinking of some things that I want to accomplish this year in the garden and yard. As usual, I'm going to put it on a blog, because then I feel more accountable, and more apt to actually do something.

- Get a composter and start composting
- Get rain barrels and put them to good use
- Put together a solid plan for the garden, including succession plantings so I have good stuff coming up all through the season with no empty/dead zones
- Keep close track of how much produce I'm yielding through the season
- I'd like to go without purchasing ANY produce this summer - grow what we'll use, and use what we grow
- Set up a seed-starting table inside, and use it
- Build my cold frame (we have lots of old, lead-free windows)by late February/early March
- Build my garden boxes/beds well in advance of planting outside
- Get a decent canning system and book, and use throughout the season

So that's it for now. I hope to be able to check most of these items off my list! Anything I should add?

2008 Garden: A Year in Review

2008-11-09T19:55:00.001-08:00

So since I'm just starting this blog and the idea didn't really occur to me until recently, I didn't purposely take great pictures of the garden through the season, and a lot of the pictures I took were on my camera-phone and thus deleted and un-findable (Sorry, sunflowers!).

However, I was able to locate a lot of them, and put together a flickr slideshow of different spots of the garden through the 2008 season:

Our primary garden areas are as follows:
(Pictures are by group/area, with progression through the season, first pictures are from mid-April, last ones are from early November)

* 2 4x10 raised bed boxes for vegetables (tomatoes, peppers, broccoli, lettuce, cucumbers, beans, peas) and bushels with herbs
* Back fence with muskmelon and watermelon vines
* Along the side of the garage - honeysuckle, violets, and mini-roses
* Fence by the garage - in the yard - raspberries and mint
* Side fence - Sunflowers, strawberry patch, butterfly garden, cherry tree
* Fence - outside of the yard - Miscellaneous flowers

Soon, I'm going to post our goals and what we'd like to do with the garden for 2009.

Thanks for reading!

Another day, another blog

2008-11-02T20:20:00.000-08:00

I've found that keeping a blog is an easy way for me to stay on task with various goals and to-do lists. It is also a great way to gauge the progression of projects - household things, kids growing up, etc.

This past summer I dedicated a lot more time to our small family garden than I had in previous years, and I want to document the progress of a full season. My goal with this blog is to track what I've done to prepare the plot, what we plant, when it grows, what we harvest, and what works for us.

I've been stalking a lot of local garden blogs, and love gleaning ideas from them, so I'm hoping that some of our family's ideas and activities will help someone else who is just venturing into gardening.

I finally get why gardeners are passionate about their gardens...There is something so fulfilling when you look outside all summer long and see fresh vegetables and fruits that you can pluck and eat, or can and enjoy through the fall and winter, or share with neighbors and family. I think it is wonderful for our kids to see how things grow, to see butterflies congregating in our mini-butterfly garden, and to watch our baby cherry tree grow and grow (Can't wait for fruit from that!!). Mind you, there's also the defeat of yielding 3 strawberries all season, and zero raspberries after the dog made the raspberry zone her napping area, and the time I thought we had a ton of beans growing, but it was some kind of weed. Oops.

Anyway, it's all a learning process, and a fun one at that. I hope to encourage everyone to plant something, anything, in their space. Herbs or tomatoes, peppers or flowers, you can do it!

PS The blog title "Our food is fighting!" comes from a WWII poster to encourage people to plant Victory Gardens. Like many people, I've romanticized, in my mind, the sacrifices that citizens made during the Great War, and I feel that enjoying the fruit of your own labor (and going a whole summer without buying any vegetables at the grocery store!) is incredibly satisfying.